UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – New measures, new reports and highlights: Le Figaro provides an update on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic around the world.
315,363 new cases, the “worst is behind us“according to Olivier Véran and Italy will lift certain health restrictions… Le Figaro takes stock this Thursday, February 3 on the latest developments in the Covid-19 pandemic in the world.
315,363 new cases
The Omicron variant continues to hit France where 315,363 new cases have been detected, according to the daily report from Public Health France. 32,720 patients are currently hospitalized, including 3,230 since the day before. 3,700 patients are being treated in critical care services – 366 arrived there on Wednesday. 277 people have died from Covid in the past 24 hours.
The end of the pass at the end of July envisaged
The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, indicated on BFMTV that he hoped that the vaccination pass would be canceled before July: “The vaccination pass will come to an end, and given the current epidemic dynamics, it is likely that this end will be well before July. Unless there’s bad news.” he specified. “When we have emptied the intensive care units, and made room for the patients who normally come under the resuscitation, when there will be no more rescheduled care in our country, and if there are no new variants in circulation at that time, the usefulness of the vaccination pass will be totally questionable. And we can take it down.”he detailed.
LiveCovid-19: Véran is considering the end of the vaccination passlong before July»
The Minister of Health has announced that, from now on, “to benefit from the vaccination pass, it will now be necessary for the immune system to have been stimulated at least three times” before adding: “It could be a vaccine injection, or an infection.” An infection will therefore be equivalent to an injection, but you will need at least one dose of vaccine. Finally, “the worst is behind us”, for this fifth wave of the Covid epidemic, Olivier Véran said on Wednesday, believing that we had “exceeded the peak of contamination” and that we were reaching the peak of hospitalizations. “Across the country, we have passed the peak of contaminations (…) We are reaching the peak of hospitalizations”said the minister on BFMTV. “We did the hardest part in this wave”.
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Italy to lift restrictions
The Italian government decided on Wednesday to ease several anti-Covid restrictions, particularly in schools, with Prime Minister Mario Draghi promising to “continue the reopening policy in the coming weeksin the peninsula. Among the measures adopted by the Council of Ministers is in particular the end of distance education for primary and secondary school students vaccinated or cured, regardless of the number of positive students in their class.
Read alsoTravel to Italy and Covid-19: vaccination pass, FFP2 mask… What changes this February 1
In the field of tourism, the government has also decided that visitors from countries whose vaccination rules are different from those in force in Italy could access with a simple health pass (for which a negative test is sufficient) hotels and restaurants as well as at all places where a vaccination pass is normally required.
Football: Covid has cost clubs 7 billion euros (UEFA)
The coronavirus pandemic has cost European football 7 billion euros in two seasons, UEFA said in a report published Thursday, where it notes a sharp decline in the transfer market for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 financial years. According to the European football body, the clubs faced a shortfall of 4 billion euros in 2019-2020, and 3 billion in the following financial year, after twenty years of uninterrupted growth.
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In question, ticketing revenues in sharp decline due to empty stadiums (with 4.4 billion euros in lost revenue), reduced commercial and sponsorship activities (a projection of 1.7 billion euros in decrease) and TV rights also slightly impacted (0.9 billion).
Gradual reopening of borders in New Zealand
New Zealand will not fully reopen its borders until October, announced Thursday Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of this archipelago with one of the most draconian anti-Covid regulations in the world.
She unveiled a five-step plan to restore New Zealand’s relationship with the rest of the planet. The first will be the end of mandatory hotel quarantine for nationals stranded abroad due to the pandemic.
US Army will fire soldiers refusing vaccine
The US Army announced on Wednesday, nearly three months after the US Navy, that it would begin sending soldiers who refuse compulsory vaccination against Covid-19 back to civilian life. “Unvaccinated soldiers pose a risk to our armed forces and compromise our readiness“Said Army Secretary Christine Wormuth in a statement.
Read alsoUS Army to fire soldiers refusing Covid vaccine
More than 3,000 soldiers could thus be returned to civilian life, according to the press release from the Army, which had 482,000 soldiers in active service at the end of 2021.
Vaccination certificates not compulsory for Czechs
Czechs will no longer have to present vaccination certificates in restaurants or to attend cultural and sporting events from next week, despite a spike in Covid-19 infections, the prime minister announced on Wednesday.
Read alsoCovid-19: a vaccine pass for how long?
“The government will waive the requirement to present a vaccination certificate or proof of recovery to enter restaurants, cultural, sporting and similar events from February 9Prime Minister Petr Fiala told reporters. He added that the population should always wear a mask indoors and that the number of participants in collective demonstrations would be limited.
Mexico passes the milestone of 5 million contaminations
Cases of contamination have exceeded the five million mark, with 5,027,870 cases since the start of the epidemic, the health secretariat announced on Wednesday. At the same time, the country recorded 573 new deaths in 24 hours, for a total of 307,493, according to the same source.
SEE ALSO – Covid-19: Mexico runs out of tests as the number of cases explodes
More than 5.67 million dead
The pandemic has officially killed at least 5,671,154 people worldwide since the end of December 2019, according to a report established by AFP on Tuesday at 11:00 GMT. The United States is the country with the most deaths (894,174), ahead of Brazil (628,960), India (497,975) and Russia (332,012).
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The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that officially established.
SEE ALSO – Covid-19: WHO considers it “premature” to declare victory over the pandemic